| Michael Cohen's usefulness to prosecutors may be drying up Posted: 09 Apr 2019 08:29 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — As Michael Cohen seeks another reprieve from his three-year prison sentence, there are mounting indications his usefulness to federal prosecutors is drying up.
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| Denver travel mess: 750 flight cancellations and counting Posted: 10 Apr 2019 05:17 PM PDT  Southwest and United airlines have big operations in Denver and have each canceled 200 flights into and out of Denver International Airport.
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| Debris Found After Japanese F-35A Stealth Fighter Crashes at Sea Posted: 09 Apr 2019 09:22 PM PDT  The plane and its pilot, a man in his 40s, went missing about 135 kilometers (85 miles) off the Japanese coast Tuesday after departing Misawa Air Base on the northeastern corner of Honshu Island, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force said in a statement. A part of what's believed to the the plane's tail was spotted floating near where it disappeared, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters Wednesday. The Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 is considered the most expensive U.S. weapons system.
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| Mueller report will be released within a week: U.S. attorney general Posted: 09 Apr 2019 12:43 PM PDT  During a congressional hearing, Barr was repeatedly challenged by Democrats who raised suspicions that he may have misrepresented Mueller's report to paint the Republican president in a better light. Barr, an appointee of Trump who last month announced what he said were the main findings of the report, said he would be as open as possible about redactions of sensitive information when he hands over the full document. "Within a week I will be in position to release that report to the public and then I will engage with the chairmen of both judiciary committees about that report, about any further requests that they have," Barr said at his first appearance before Congress since receiving the report on March 22.
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| Ford Again Recalls F-150 and Super Duty Pickup Trucks for Second Repair over Engine-Block Fire Risk Posted: 10 Apr 2019 08:44 AM PDT  The new recall will bring back more than 130,000 U.S.-market trucks for another fix; more than 400,000 pickups in the U.S. alone have been affected by the recall.
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| The Navy Wanted to Take Battleships and Make Them Into Nuclear 'Bombers' Posted: 10 Apr 2019 12:00 AM PDT  Today the naval gunfire argument rages on. Even in the age of drones and precision warfare there are still occasional calls to bring the heavily manned, imprecise Iowa class back to service. There's a certain romance to battleships, and having four Iowas sitting around in good condition has beguiled naval enthusiasts and planners for more than 60 years with schemes to bring them back.In the early 1980s, four Iowa-class fast battleships originally built during World War II—Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin—were taken out of mothballs and returned to active duty.(This first appeared several years ago.)Nearly 900 feet long and displacing close to 60,000 tons, the battlewagons could fire a nine-gun broadside sending 18 tons of steel and explosives hurtling towards their targets.The battleships were modernized to include cruise missiles, ship-killing missiles and Phalanx point-defense guns. Returned to the fleet, the ships saw action off the coasts of Lebanon and Iraq. At the end of the Cold War the battleships were retired again. All were slated to become museums.
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| Capitol Hill hearing on online hate sees it firsthand Posted: 09 Apr 2019 04:12 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional hearing on online hate turned into a vivid demonstration of the problem Tuesday when a YouTube livestream of the proceedings was bombarded with racist and anti-Semitic comments from internet users.
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| SpaceX postpones first commercial launch due to strong wind Posted: 10 Apr 2019 05:11 PM PDT  SpaceX postponed Wednesday what would have been its first commercial launch with the Falcon Heavy rocket, citing strong wind in the upper atmosphere. The rocket is to carry a Saudi satellite operated by Arabsat, a year after sending founder Elon Musk's red Tesla roadster into orbit as a test. The Falcon Heavy had been scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space center in Florida at 6:36 pm (2236 GMT) and place the six-ton Arabsat-6A satellite into geostationary orbit about 22,500 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the Earth.
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| Candace Owens fumes at Rep. Ted Lieu's use of her Hitler comments Posted: 10 Apr 2019 04:30 PM PDT  "I think it's pretty apparent that believes that black people are stupid," Owens said in response to Lieu playing a clip of her comment on Hitler.
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| Mnuchin Says He Didn’t Recommend ‘Wrong Person’ in Fed’s Powell Posted: 10 Apr 2019 11:37 AM PDT  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was right to recommend Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman despite President Donald Trump's frequent criticism of the central bank leader. "I don't feel like I picked the wrong person," Mnuchin said Wednesday in an interview on CNBC. The Fed's interest rate increases in 2018 outraged the president, who went so far as to discuss firing Powell with his advisers late in the year.
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| Biden says cancer wasn't a 'priority' in the Trump White House Posted: 09 Apr 2019 07:11 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden suggested the Trump White House did not share his desire to fight cancer.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT R Pro Posted: 09 Apr 2019 02:09 PM PDT |
| Yahoo strikes $117.5 million data breach settlement after earlier accord rejected Posted: 09 Apr 2019 11:29 AM PDT  The proposed class-action settlement made public on Tuesday was designed to address criticisms of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California. Koh said the original settlement was not "fundamentally fair, adequate and reasonable" because it had no overall dollar value and did not say how much victims might expect to recover. Yahoo, now part of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc, had been accused of being slow to disclose three data breaches affecting about 3 billion accounts from 2013 to 2016.
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| Man sentenced 26-years to life in brutal hammer death of 'Bridalplasty' reality star Posted: 09 Apr 2019 07:08 AM PDT  Jackie Jerome Rogers was sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison for killing Lisa Marie Naegle with a hammer and burying her body in his back yard.
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| Uganda kidnapping: Arrests made in Costa Mesa resident Kimberly Sue Endicott's abduction Posted: 10 Apr 2019 01:17 AM PDT  Ugandan police say they have arrested some people over the kidnapping last week of a Costa Mesa tourist who has since been freed.
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| Boeing orders and deliveries tumble as Max jet is grounded Posted: 09 Apr 2019 02:09 PM PDT  DALLAS (AP) — Boeing failed to win any orders for its 737 Max airliner in March as scrutiny of the plane increased following a second deadly crash in less than five months.
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| UN chief calls for immediate halt to Libya fighting Posted: 08 Apr 2019 07:40 PM PDT  UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday appealed for an immediate halt to fighting in Libya, after strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces claimed an airstrike on Tripoli's only functioning airport. Thousands have fled violence in the capital city, according to the United Nations, since Haftar launched a surprise assault last week which has left dozens dead. Secretary-General Guterres "urges the immediate halt of all military operations in order to de-escalate the situation and prevent an all-out conflict," said a UN statement late Monday.
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| French Jet Deal to Be Examined by India Court in a Blow to Modi Posted: 10 Apr 2019 03:51 AM PDT  A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the Supreme Court will further hear petitions alleging corruption in a deal to buy 36 Rafale jets by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration.
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| Trump basks in Netanyahu's victory by highlighting their personal alliance Posted: 10 Apr 2019 11:03 AM PDT  US president tweeted a picture of people waving Trump banners at the Israeli leader's election celebrations Donald Trump shakes hands with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on 25 March. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters Donald Trump welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory by underlining the personal alliance between the two men, tweeting a picture of people waving Trump banners at the Israeli leader's celebrations. As it became clear that Netanyahu would win a fifth term as prime minister, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, was answering questions in the Senate about the US's Middle East policy. Raising the prospect of a radical change of policy in line with Netanyahu's goals, Pompeo refused to commit the continuing longstanding US policy in support of two states for Israelis and Palestinians, and in opposition to Israeli annexation of the West Bank. He said: "The old set of ideas are not worth retreading. They have not succeeded. "I would argue that millions of man hours have been spent trying to build a two-state solution," Pompeo told the Senate foreign relations committee. "It hasn't worked to date." In a tweet on Wednesday morning, Trump associated himself with Netanyahu's win with a picture of Netanyahu supporters waving banners bearing the US president's name. Trump flags being waived at the Bibi @Netanyahu VICTORY celebration last night! pic.twitter.com/SX8RVAALYW— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2019 Trump's decision on 21 March to recognise the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, was widely seen in Israel and the US as an effort to show support to Netanyahu in a tight election race. Trump denied he was trying to influence Israeli votes, and claimed to be unfamiliar with the details of the campaign. Pompeo said a long-delayed US peace plan being devised by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the US special Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, would be unveiled soon, but suggested it would not be a detailed framework for resolving Israeli and Palestinian disputes. "We have been working on a set of ideas we hope to present before too long that I hope will have sufficient force of intellect … that the Israelis and Palestinians will see value there," Pompeo said. However, the secretary of state was elusive on the question of whether the US plan would have to be accepted by Palestinians for it to be considered acceptable. Instead, he said: "For there to be peaceful resolution … I think the Israelis accept that the ultimate resolution is something that Palestinian people are going to have acknowledged makes sense."
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| New York City declares public health emergency, orders mandatory measles vaccinations Posted: 09 Apr 2019 11:30 AM PDT  Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city has "the power to do this."
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| Walmart's Spring Sale Is Marking Down Tools, Grills, and More Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:39 PM PDT |
| Nipsey Hussle memorial service Thursday at Staples Center, ticketing details announced Posted: 08 Apr 2019 05:40 PM PDT  Timing and ticketing details were announced for Thursday's memorial service for slain rapper Nipsey Hussle at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
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| Free IRS software for filing taxes to be banned by US Congress in win for TurboTax Posted: 10 Apr 2019 12:17 PM PDT  Congress is poised to pass a bill that would hand a major policy victory to the for-profit tax preparation industry, just in time for Tax Day in America.The bill, titled the Taxpayers First Act, is a wide-ranging bill that includes a provision that would ban the US government from developing a free electronic tax filing system, and is supported by companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block.Those companies have lobbied Congress for years now to block the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from developing a free system to help taxpayers file online and would compete with their product, sinking a combined $6.6m into efforts related to the bill just last year.The passage of the provision would safeguard the profits of the private tax preparation corporation, which experts say run a system that makes filing taxes more difficult than it needs to be."This could be a disaster. It could be the final nail in the coffin of the idea of the IRS ever being able to create its own program," Mandi Matlock, a tax lawyer with the National Consumer Law Centre, told ProPublica.The legislation received a major boost last week after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance the legislation.It has bipartisan support in that committee, where it is co-sponsored by Democratic Representative John Lewis and Republican Representative Mike Kelly.Some 70 per cent of Americans qualify to use free tax-preparer programmes run by the companies in question, but just 3 per cent of eligible taxpayers use the service, according to the Free File Alliance, a private industry group.The new bill is expected to preserve those circumstances, which critics say allows the companies to purposefully under market their free services.
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| The real deal: astronomers deliver first photo of black hole Posted: 10 Apr 2019 06:30 AM PDT  Astronomers on Wednesday unveiled the first photo of a black hole, one of the star-devouring monsters scattered throughout the Universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity. Scientists have been puzzling over invisible "dark stars" since the 18th century, but never has one been spied by a telescope, much less photographed. The supermassive black hole now immortalised by a far-flung network of radio telescopes is 50 million lightyears away in a galaxy known as M87.
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| New Zealand Parliament votes to ban semi-automatic weapons Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:13 AM PDT  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's Parliament on Wednesday passed sweeping gun laws that outlaw military style weapons, less than a month after mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch left 50 people dead and dozens wounded.
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| Wynn Resorts scotches potential takeover of Crown Resorts Posted: 09 Apr 2019 08:15 AM PDT  Wynn Resorts said Tuesday it was pulling the plug on a potential takeover of Australian gambling giant Crown Resorts that had been seen as fetching about $7.1 billion. "Following the premature disclosure of preliminary discussions, Wynn Resorts has terminated all discussions with Crown Resorts concerning any transaction," Las Vegas-based Wynn said Tuesday. Shares of Wynn were down 3.2 percent at $140.23 at mid-morning in New York.
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| Prosecutors announce new charges for Lori Loughlin and husband Posted: 10 Apr 2019 06:08 AM PDT  The "Full House" actress and her husband now face money laundering charges that could increase their prison sentence to 20 years. ABC News' Kenneth Moton reports.
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| Pakistan PM sees better chance of peace talks with India if Modi's BJP wins election Posted: 09 Apr 2019 09:04 AM PDT  Khan said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over disputed Indian-controlled Kashmir, fearing a backlash from the right. "Perhaps if the BJP - a right-wing party - wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. This was despite the massive alienation that Muslims in Kashmir and Muslims in general were facing in Modi's India, said Khan, who took office last August.
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| Southwest flight canceled? Here's why the airline won't book you on another carrier Posted: 09 Apr 2019 01:06 PM PDT  Frustrated Southwest Airlines passengers have bombarded the airline with questions in the wake of heavy Boeing 737 Max 8 flight cancellations.
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| Eric Swalwell Enters Dem Primary With Focus on Gun Control Posted: 09 Apr 2019 06:34 AM PDT  Representative Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) announced his entry into the crowded 2020 Democratic primary field Monday night during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.> TONIGHT: California Representative @EricSwalwell announces on @colbertlateshow that he is running for President! LSSC pic.twitter.com/bvzBPIkSnz> > -- The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) April 8, 2019"I talked to kids who sit in their classrooms afraid they'll be the next victims of gun violence. They see Washington [D.C.] do nothing about it after the moments of silence," Swalwell said. "They see lawmakers who love their guns more than our kids and none of that is going to change until we get a leader who is willing to go big on the issues we take on, be bold on the solutions we offer, and do good in the way that we govern. I'm ready to solve these problems. I'm ready to solve these problems. I'm running for president of the United States."Swalwell followed the initial announcement by tweeting a video montage of his many appearances on cable news as well as words of encouragement he's received on Twitter.> Are you ready America? Let's go big, be bold, and do good! pic.twitter.com/gk9SPDT4FN> > -- Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) April 8, 2019Swalwell plans to provide more specifics on his ideal gun control policy during a Tuesday town hall in Coral Springs, Fla. with Parkland shooting survivor Cameron Casky.The 38-year-old California lawmaker, who has risen to prominence as one of the most vocal purveyors of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, joins several lesser-known House Democratic in the 2020 race. He's travelled several times to Iowa but is not yet registering on any polls.
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| Apple quietly nixes fee to transfer data from your old Mac to your new one Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:12 AM PDT  After speaking with an Apple Store Operations Specialist, TidBITS reported that the company has dropped the data migration fee charged when users move their content from an old computer to a new Mac. Previously, when you went to the Apple Store to upgrade your computer to a new one or had some repairs done, you'd have to pay a whopping $99 to migrate the data to your new device or new hard drive. As first reported by TidBITS on Tuesday, Apple quietly discontinued charging this particular fee.
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| The Best Stuff in Wayfair's Way Day Sale (a.k.a. 36 Hours of Home Decor Bargains) Posted: 10 Apr 2019 12:51 PM PDT |
| Pennsylvania lawmakers honor victims of synagogue massacre Posted: 10 Apr 2019 03:12 PM PDT  HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers solemnly remembered the 11 worshippers killed in an anti-Semitic attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue last fall, hearing Wednesday from an affected congregation's rabbi that "all is not well in our republic."
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| What's behind Warren's plan to break up Facebook, Amazon and Google Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Elizabeth Warren accuses Amazon and other tech giants of unfairly demanding special favors from governments, selling users' consumer profiles for marketing purposes and exercising a stranglehold over capital funding for potential competitors.
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| 2 dead, 1 critical in East Garfield Park shooting Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:56 PM PDT  2 dead, 1 critical in East Garfield Park shooting
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| Texas Tech Medical School Will Stop Considering Race in Admissions Due to Trump Administration Pressure Posted: 10 Apr 2019 07:50 AM PDT  The move is part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education
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| India Supreme Court to hear Dassault jet deal in setback for Modi Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:39 AM PDT  The published material was privileged defense documents, the government says. "Preliminary objections of the Centre are dismissed," said the court, led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, referring to the federal government, adding that it would set a date for further hearings. Modi, facing a tightening election, has vehemently denied opposition allegations of wrongdoing in the purchase of 36 Rafale planes and the government had asked the court to reject the petitions, citing national security.
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| The 2019 Audi TT RS Gets Some New Colors and Air Scoops, Starts at $67,895 Posted: 10 Apr 2019 11:17 AM PDT  Minor exterior and interior updates for the world's only five-cylinder sports car in production.
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| India's Modi eyes win in world's biggest election Posted: 08 Apr 2019 08:15 PM PDT  India starts a mega-election on Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his formidable campaign machine taking on not one but two Gandhis in the world's biggest vote. Tea-seller's son Modi, boosted by February's bust-up with Pakistan, remains popular, but he is vulnerable on the economy and his re-election depends on several key regions. The "festival of democracy", as Modi calls it, needs seven phases, with thousands of parties and candidates running in 543 constituencies across the nation of 1.3 billion people.
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| Kathie Lee Gifford gave 'Today' replacement Jenna Bush Hager this special gift Posted: 09 Apr 2019 07:56 AM PDT  Kathie Lee Gifford had something special for Jenna Bush Hager, her successor for the fourth hour of "Today," rebranded as "Today with Hoda & Jenna."
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| California governor hears of Salvadorans' struggles in visit Posted: 09 Apr 2019 04:22 PM PDT  PANCHIMALCO, El Salvador (AP) — David Escobar Fuentes fled El Salvador because gangs were extorting his ranching family, while Bryon Melgar Menjivar wanted to escape the pressure to join a gang that started when he was 15. Sandra Monroy headed north for a good job.
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| Trump's 'business ties' to Iran's Revolutionary Guards reemerge, a day after he designated it a terror group Posted: 09 Apr 2019 08:21 AM PDT  A day after Donald Trump designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organisation, reports are reemerging of the Trump Organization's alleged participation in a scheme that likely helped the IRGC launder money to fund its interests abroad.The US government made the unprecedented move to blacklist another country's military because, Mr Trump said, the IRGC "actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft". The designation imposes sanctions including freezing assets the IRGC may have in US jurisdictions and a ban on Americans doing business with the organisation.But according to a 2017 report by the New Yorker, the Trump Organization signed contracts in 2012 with developers to build a skyscraper in Azerbaijan that appeared "to be a corrupt operation engineered by oligarchs tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard". The family the Trumps partnered with on the Trump Tower Baku project were the Mammadovs, whose billionaire patriarch Ziya Mammadov was the then-Azerbaijani transport minister, on a reported salary of little over £9,000. According to Transparency International, Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries on Earth, and, according to one US diplomat – in comments made public by WikiLeaks eight years ago – Mr Mammadov was "notoriously corrupt even for Azerbaijan". In 2008, Mr Mammadov awarded a series of multimillion-pound contracts to Azarpassillo, an Iranian construction firm allegedly controlled by the IRGC as part of a larger scheme to export money from Iran in order to fund terror and other activities abroad.The company was run by the Darvishi family, at least three members of whom were associated of the IRGC, the New Yorker reported. Two brothers in the family, Kamal and Keyumars, made frequent visits to Azerbaijan and reportedly developed a close relationship with the Mammadovs. The Trump Tower Baku project carried some classic hallmarks of a money-laundering operation, including firms being paid in cash, some of which was transferred in duffel bags."I got a hundred and eighty thousand dollars one time, which I fit into my laptop bag, and two hundred thousand dollars another time," said Frank McDonald, who performed work on the building's interior.> In response to previous sanctions, the IRGC came up with a clever scheme. It would create hundreds of "private" companies, owned by IRGC officers, that would fund terror, seek WMD, launder money and do other bidding of the central org. > > 1/> > — Adam Davidson (@adamdavidson) > > April 8, 2019Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten said the company learned in 2015 about the "possibility" the Mammadovs had ties to the IRGC, which was under US sanctions, but did not pull out of the deal until December 2016 as there was "no rush" because the project had "stalled". He also said the Trump Organization had binding contracts with the Mammadovs that they could not just abandon, something sanctions experts rubbished."You can't violate sanctions just because you have a contract with someone," said Jessica Tillipman, an assistant dean at George Washington University Law School. There is no evidence Mr Trump or any Trump Organization officials acted illegally in the deal. Mr Trump, in fact, was reportedly only lightly involved in the project, which was spearheaded by his oldest daughter, Ivanka.> View this post on Instagram> > I love a room with a view. Here I am in the incredible city of Baku, Azerbaijan, checking out the construction progress of our new Trump International Hotel & Tower, which will open in 2015. See more on my project on IvankaTrump.com (link in profile).> > A post shared by Ivanka Trump (@ivankatrump) on Nov 24, 2014 at 10:16am PSTBaku XXI Century, the firm owned by the Mammadovs, has denied involvement in corruption. Azarpasillo and the Trump Organization have been contacted for comment.
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| Sanofi to cut U.S. insulin costs for some patients to $99 per month Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:07 AM PDT  Sanofi SA said on Wednesday it will cut the cost of its insulin products to $99 per month for uninsured patients and others who pay cash for it in the United States, as the French drugmaker contends with intense criticism over the high price of the life-sustaining diabetes medication. Sanofi announced the plan hours before one of its executives was set to testify before a congressional committee on the rising prices of insulin. Executives from the other leading insulin producers - Eli Lilly & Co and Novo Nordisk A/S - will also testify.
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